Staples High School had long planned a lockdown drill for this week. The day and time were unannounced, however, to make it as realistic as possible. It is uncertain whether today’s lockdown at Staples was part of that planned drill, or not.
This afternoon, superintendent of schools Colleen Palmer sent this message:
Dear Families of Westport Students,
There is no known threat at this time, but out of an abundance of caution due to some information that has been uncovered during the school day, Staples High School will be dismissed at approximately 1:15 p.m. this afternoon. Until dismissal, students and staff have been asked to shelter in place.
WPD is on site with support. Please do not disrupt our dismissal by coming to the high school at this time.
All after-school activities at Staples are cancelled.
Further communication will be forthcoming.
Staples High School (Photo copyright Lynn U. Miller)
I don’t think this has anything to do with the drill. Am I wrong?
Dan,
Are you saying this is a drill? – I had residents calling/emailing me freaking out and my neighbors were crying.
Please confirm
No information yet, Greg.
I don’t think that this was a drill. From my understanding it had to do with the shooting in Westchester. (Not school related) But we shouldn’t speculate. I’m sure that facts will be forthcoming.
I don’t think it was a drill
All of the river towns are currently on lockdown from the shooting and SWAT teams have been out in force to locate the gunman (Irvington, Dobbs, Hastings, Tarrytown, etc). Not sure how that effects Westport though.
Does not seem to be a drill as they cancelled all afternoon activities.
Hello everyone. I’m a student at Staples, and can confirm that the shelter in place today was not part of the planned lockdown drill for this week. Principal D’Amico added that when he announced the shelter in place over the PA system. Westport Police were on scene, and (as I know of), no one was hurt during the incident.
Thank you, Brandon.
Message regarding the incident. We’re also working on setting up a livestream on Westport’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/westportct.gov/
Due to this morning’s incident at Staples High School, the Westport Police Department will be hosting a joint press conference at 4:00pm. Police Chief Fotios Koskinas will be joined by First Selectman Jim Marpe and School Superintendent Colleen Palmer to address concerns and provide updates on the incident and continuing investigation. The conference will be held in the police training classroom and is open to members of the press.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2.27.2018
Contact: Lieutenant Jillian Cabana
203.341.6009
Why does WestportNow crash every time there’s a major local news event?
must be the Russians.
Nancy!
It bothers me that our superintendent sugarcoated this situation. If there is a problem we need to know about it. These are our children and we need to know the reality of any situations gravity. God forbid that anything had happened……then I wonder how she would have felt in spite of the precautions that she took.
Loius, take a deep breath and be confident that your superintendent knows what she is doing, in conjunction with the WPD. They have the facts and know what can and cannot be released at this time. Have faith….. Your children are in good hands.
If this scenario happened last month no one would have reacted ie the kids wouldn’t have reported to admin and admin wouldn’t have contacted police. We are progressing…